Al-Jazeera Under Fire For Its Coverage Of Egypt : ParallelsThe accuracy of Al-Jazeera's reporting has come under criticism in the past, and now the network is taking a hit amid claims it slanted its coverage in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood during Egypt's recent political crisis. At stake, too, is the credibility of Al-Jazeera's main backer, Qatar.

Al-Jazeera's Live Egypt channel broadcast images of sparsely attended opposition protests during late June and early July. In reality, the areas were almost always full of protesters opposing then-President Mohammed Morsi — the network chose times of day when those areas were empty.

YouTube

The past two weeks in Egypt have been a real test for the TV network Al-Jazeera. Accusations that the network is biased toward the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have resulted in arrests, threats and resignations.

On the last day of June and the first days of July, as millions of Egyptians took to the streets to call for Morsi's downfall, Al-Jazeera was there.

Posters in Cairo show Al-Jazeera's logo in red with a bloody hand scratching at it. A bullet can kill a man, the poster says, but a lying camera can kill a nation.
Kelly McEvers/NPR
hide caption

toggle caption

Kelly McEvers/NPR

Posters in Cairo show Al-Jazeera's logo in red with a bloody hand scratching at it. A bullet can kill a man, the poster says, but a lying camera can kill a nation.

Kelly McEvers/NPR

It was later revealed that the anti-Morsi areas were usually packed — Al-Jazeera just showed them at the times of day that they were empty.

Then came the killing of more than 50 pro-Morsi demonstrators by Egyptian security forces. Some Al-Jazeera reports initially said the number was in the hundreds.

The military later held a press conference on the killings. An Al-Jazeera correspondent was booed out of the room by other reporters.

For Haggag Salama, who had freelanced for Al-Jazeera for 10 years, the misreporting of the number of slain protesters was the last straw. He called another local TV station and announced his resignation on air.

Salama says Al-Jazeera had no sources and exaggerated the numbers to favor the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the days that followed, reports surfaced that some 20 more Al-Jazeera employees had quit — although at least one might have been a fake and others now say they will probably go back.

They also say part of what's happening in Egypt is a witch hunt by some Egyptians who are now rabidly anti-Morsi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood. Other Islamist channels have been closed down since Morsi's ouster.

Posters around Cairo show Al-Jazeera's logo in red with a bloody hand scratching at it. A bullet can kill a man, the poster says, but a lying camera can kill a nation.

Either way, the Al-Jazeera name has taken a hit, says Marwan Kraidy, who studies Arab media at the University of Pennsylvania. And it's time for the network to do some soul-searching.

"There might be some room for changing," Kraidy says. "And I do hope that that does happen. Because otherwise ... you're running what's truly an internationally unique institution that had its moment of brilliance into the ground."

Al-Jazeera's loss of credibility also reflects a loss of credibility for its main backer, Qatar.

It's a big, confusing, messy world, and Parallels draws on NPR correspondents around the globe to connect the dots and make sense of it all. Want to know more? Check out our "About" page. Questions? You can connect with host Greg Myre and the rest of the Parallels team by email.